The Forgotten Garden

by Kate Morton

This is another “then and now” novel from Ms. Morton. The Forgotten Garden is even more elaborate than the other two novels I have read by this author. It is more of a “then, then and now” novel.

So, we have three separate time periods/plots to follow:

• Then: 1913. A little girl is abandoned by her guardian on a ship headed to Australia.

• Then: 1975. An Australian woman heads to the Cornish coast to find her roots and solve the mysteries of her childhood.

• Now: 2005. The granddaughter of aforementioned Australian woman inherits a cottage on the Cornish coast. Whilevisiting the cottage, she unlocks the mysteries of her ancestors.

To say anything more would spoil the plot. I will say this: I almost needed a scorecard to keep the characters straight. Despite that, I had figured out most of the “mysteries” early in the novel.

Though I liked this novel enough to finish it, I think it is the weakest of the three novels I have read by the author.

 

8/1/13